Nearly a week after the Iowa caucuses, the state’s Democratic Party announced that Pete Buttigieg won the most delegates in the first nominating contest, finishing narrowly ahead of Bernie Sanders.
The Iowa Democratic Party said Sunday that in the Feb. 3 caucuses, Buttigieg, a former South Bend, Indiana, mayor, finished with 26.2% of state delegate equivalents, the traditional way of measuring victory in the event. Sanders, a socialist Vermont senator, was just behind with 26.1%. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren came in third with 18%, and former Vice President Joe Biden was fourth at 15.8%.
The state Democratic Party said that means Buttigieg is likely to win 14 delegates to the national convention, scheduled for Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. Sanders will get 12 delegates.
A majority of the estimated 3,979 pledged delegates (1,990+) are needed to win the Democratic nomination on the first ballot at the convention.
Under the final Iowa results, Warren will get eight delegates, Biden will get six delegates, and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar will receive a single delegate.
Buttigieg, 38, declared victory early on Monday night based on his campaign’s internal figures, peeving his rivals. After more than two days of partial results trickling in, Sanders, himself, declared victory, citing his lead in the raw vote total.
The delay in results was caused by a “coding issue” with an app used to report results. The anticlimactic Monday evening risks blunting the momentum of Buttigieg just before Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
The unresolved Iowa contest prompted some candidates to take sharper tones in New Hampshire, with Biden taking direct swipes at Buttigieg and Sanders. Buttigieg, 38, meanwhile, shaded Biden for claiming Obama administration successes as his own.
The delayed Iowa results proved an embarrassment to the Iowa Democratic Party. Its first-in-the-nation status was already tenuous, due to longstanding criticisms of the caucuses process and relative lack of diversity in the overwhelmingly white state.
